Patients at Northampton General Hospital help major drug discovery in battle against Covid-19

Patients at Northampton General Hospital help major drug discovery in battle against Covid-19 Covid-19 sufferers at Northampton General Hospital have been thanked for helping find a drug to treat other patients affected by the deadly virus.

Front-line staff at the Cliftonville site delivered a series of Urgent Public Health studies as part of a major research programme led by the National Institute for Health Research. Northampton Chronicle and Echo

See also:

• Jo Whiley: 'I'd give up my Covid vaccine in a heartbeat' BBC News
• Coronavirus: Map reveals how Britain's Covid hotspot shifted during second wave The Daily Mail
• Where Northamptonshire stands on Boris' road out of lockdown Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• Radio star Jo Whiley "scared and sad" after sister tests positive for Covid in Northamptonshire care home Northampton Chronicle and Echo
• More half-hour tests available in Northampton to sniff out Covid-cases with no symptoms Northamptonshire Telegraph
• Kids must be a priority post-Covid after an 'impossibly damaging' year - what England's Children's Commissioner said Northamptonshire Telegraph

Northampton hospital thief was stealing PPE BEFORE the pandemic... but put prices up when Covid-19 panic hit

Northampton hospital thief was stealing PPE BEFORE the pandemic... but put prices up when Covid-19 panic hit A cleaner stole PPE from Northampton General Hospital and sold it on eBay for up to 10 times their value during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Northampton Chronicle and Echo 

Beyond Covid-19 wave two: what now for care homes?

Beyond Covid-19 wave two: what now for care homes? With Covid-19 having a particularly hard impact on care homes, Natasha Curry takes a closer look at why they were hit so badly last spring, whether they have fared any better this winter, and the importance of what happens next. Her blog accompanies an explainer from Sarah Scobie, which looks in detail at the numbers of deaths of care home residents. Nuffield Trust

See also:

• Covid-19 and the deaths of care home residents Nuffield Trust 

What's next for the NHS? Building the resilience of the health and care system

What's next for the NHS? Building the resilience of the health and care system A year into this crisis and with the benefit of some hindsight, it is clear that too little consideration was given to the implications of a complete reallocation of resources away from ‘business as usual’. 

Urgent action is needed in the NHS to meet a ballooning backlog of procedures put on hold during the pandemic and build a more resilient health care system.

This report, produced jointly with Edge Health, shows the scale of the challenges the NHS faces. Reform

See also:

• Hospital waiting list 'may double to 10m by April' BBC News
• TEN MILLION patients on NHS waiting lists: One in six could find themselves waiting for treatment The Daily Mail
• Think tank claims NHS waiting list could reach 10 million by April The Independent
• NHS waiting lists could be 10m people long by April due to the Covid-19 pandemic iNews

New technology to help identify those at high risk from COVID-19

New technology to help identify those at high risk from COVID-19 New technology has been introduced in England to help clinicians identify, for the first time, a new group of people who may be at high risk from COVID-19. Department of Health and Social Care 

See also:

• Guidance: COVID-19: guidance on shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as extremely vulnerable Department of Health and Social Care
• Confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants identified in UK Public Health England
• Research and analysis: COVID-19: reported SARS-CoV-2 deaths in England Public Health England

Covid: How will we know if the vaccine is working?

Covid: How will we know if the vaccine is working? More than 15 million people in the UK have received a first dose of coronavirus vaccine - but how will we know if it's working?

There are some early signs of a possible vaccine effect in falling deaths among people aged over 80.

But data on cases and hospital patients is not so clear.

It is hard to separate the effect of the vaccine from that of lockdown. BBC News

See also:

• Covid vaccine impact revealed in over-80s blood tests BBC News
• Another new coronavirus variant seen in the UK BBC News
• Covid: Extra 1.7m vulnerable added to shielding list BBC News
• Covid: Trials test the efficacy of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on children BBC News
• Covid: UK urged to roll out vaccines to EVERYONE over 50 ASAP The Daily Mail
• PHE boss criticised government for doing 'science by press release' The Daily Mail
• Coronavirus UK: People who are shielding 'should stay home until March 31' The Daily Mail
• Contact tracing alone has little impact on curbing Covid spread, report finds The Guardian
• Revealed: NHS could offer Covid vaccine to 32m in priority groups by Easter The Guardian
• Covid: almost 2m more people in England will be asked to shield The Guardian
• Don’t ease lockdown until the NHS can cope, hospital bosses warn The Independent
• NHS staff on what it's like working with 'terrified' Covid patients in intensive care ITV News
• 'Progress' made on vaccine hesitancy amid 'pandemic of disinformation', NHS chief says Sky News

'Most healthcare apps not up to NHS standards'

'Most healthcare apps not up to NHS standards' A firm which reviews healthcare apps for several NHS trusts says 80% of them do not meet its standards.

Failings include poor information, lack of security updates and insufficient awareness of regulatory requirements, said Orcha chief executive Liz Ashall-Payne.

The firm's reviews help determine whether an app should be recommended to patients by NHS staff. BBC News 

What it's like to be on both sides of a mental health section | Rebecca Lawrence

What it's like to be on both sides of a mental health section | Rebecca Lawrence As a psychiatrist and a patient, I know how painful it can be. No amount of legal reform will change that

When I was first admitted to hospital, far away from where I now live, it was with the threat of the Mental Health Act (1983) hanging over me. The horror lives with me still, with surprising clarity. The idea of losing one’s liberty and being powerless to prevent it, whatever you say, is not easy to imagine. The Guardian